¹Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Companion Animal Medicine & Surgery, 43400, Serdang, MALAYSIA
²The Veterinary Referral Centre, Al Murooj Complex, Trade-Centre 2, DIFC, Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
³Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences, 43400, Serdang, MALAYSIA
⁴The Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, 43210, Columbus, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2026.36365 Optimal perioperative analgesia in dogs and cats depends on the appropriate selection and combination of analgesic agents based on pain mechanisms and accurate pain assessment. Building on the physiological and assessment principles discussed in Part I, this review focuses on therapeutic strategies for perioperative pain management in small animals. Commonly used pharmacological agents, including opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local anesthetics, and adjunctive analgesics, are reviewed with respect to their mechanisms of action, clinical applications, and roles in perioperative care. An exhaustive literature search was conducted using Scopus, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect, including randomized studies evaluating perioperative analgesic interventions in dogs and relevant literature in cats. Keywords included nociception, pain pathways, peripheral and central sensitization, multimodal analgesia, pre-emptive analgesia, electroencephalography, algometry, ketamine, lidocaine, and other analgesics. This review is presented in two complementary parts. Part I focuses on pain pathophysiology and assessment, forming the foundation for Part II, which focuses on pharmacological analgesic modalities and the clinical application of pain management strategies ranging from unimodal techniques to pre-emptive and multimodal analgesia, with emphasis on achieving balanced intraoperative and postoperative pain control. The integration of multimodal approaches targeting different components of the nociceptive pathway is highlighted as a cornerstone of modern veterinary anesthesia, aiming to enhance analgesic efficacy while minimizing adverse effects. Keywords : Cat, Dog, Nociceptive pathways, Pain assessment, Perioperative pain, Sensitization